Tags for your memories

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Paisley Leaves tag

Welcome to Day Four of the RemARKable Holiday Madness Blog tour!  I hope you’re enjoying all the fabulous creations that the RemARKables have posted for you, and I want to encourage you to leave a COMMENT.   It’s quite easy, and really quite fun.  Those of us who labor to bring you such fabulous and fascinating content LOVE-LOVE-LOVE to get your comments!

Sizzix leaves tag

Do you like today’s projects?  I’ve had this idea in mind for a while but as is often the case, it had to simmer away on the back burner for a bit.  I’ve used the Paisley Prints stamp set as well as the Big Shot and the Originals Leaves #2 die to create the leaves, and I started by just stamping and cutting a heap of them.  The tags are cut from Crumb Cake card stock and embellished with the leaves, Always Artichoke 1/2″ Seam Binding and the Big Designer Deck the Halls Buttons from the Holiday Mini catalog.  One tag is stamped with a “thanks” sentiment from the Thank You Kindly stamp set and the other is rolled with the Bright Blessings Jumbo Stampin’ Around Wheel. The buttons are sewn on with our Linen Thread, one of my favorite “little touches”.

Autumn Napkin Rings

I used the same leaves and embellishments to create some autumn napkin rings.  It was fun to mix and match the different leaves – they’re attached to a 1″ punched circle of cardstock with Tombo-the-wonder-adhesive.

Single Napkin ring

I had a long string of wooden beads that I was given years ago when I was a scout leader, and they have been waiting for just the right project to come along.  I strung them on heavy elastic cord and knotted it, then used Linen Thread to tie the leaves onto the beads.  It was simple and fun and I’m thinking I’ll make a few more leaves and add them to what I have leftover to make a banner of sorts that I can hang in my dining room.

I know that somebody out there is wondering what colors I used for the ink and the card stock.  There are lots of colors!  I used Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, More Mustard and of course Whisper White card stock.  I stamped with Classic ink pads in Peach Parfait, Wild Wasabi, River Rock, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Always Artichoke and Old Olive.  In other words, I worked with whatever was in arm’s reach!  It’s liberating to be random – I’m usually so focused on matching and detail, and I enjoyed stretching myself outside of my comfort zone with this.

Next Stop on the Holiday Madness Blog Tour

Unraveling the twine

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RemARKable Holiday 2010 Madness

It’s Day Three of the RemARKable Holiday Madness blog tour and I think it’s about time I started moving through the holidays, don’t you?  I’m still living large with my Attitude of Gratitude, so it makes sense for me to share a couple of thankful-type cards with you.

This card makes me feel really, really happy.  I’m happy with the colors, I’m happy with the fuzzy ends of the hemp twine, I’m happy with that gorgeous brad, and I’m just flat out happy with the way it looks:

Paisley Prints So Many Thanks

  • Paisley Prints and So Many Thanks stamp sets
  • Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze, Chocolate Chip, Peach Parfait and So Saffron card stock
  • Cajun Craze, Chocolate Chip, Peach Parfait and So Saffron Classic ink pads
  • Cajun Craze and Peach Parfait Stampin’ Write markers
  • Big Shot and Lattice Impressions Folder
  • Hemp Twine and Antique brad

I love all these textures!  Of all the different elements in a card I think it’s texture that gives the most interest.  There are so many ways to add dimension and I think I’ve hit a mother lode of them here:  the twine, the multiple colors, the Big Shot texture, the torn edges, and the brad.

Oh, that brad!!  I put a hole in the Very Vanilla panel and tied the twine through the hole and around the card.  Then I had the brilliant idea (if I do say so myself) of putting that brad through the hole, but the ends of the twine looked funny…kind of stiff…and, well, moustachey.  I started to fiddle with them and they began to unravel, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Next Stop on the Holiday Madness Blog Tour

The secret to my mojo

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RemARKable Holiday 2010 Madness

Welcome to Day Two of the RemARKables Holiday Madness Blog Hop.  Are you ready for some more RemARKable fun?

I’ve said it before…Autumn doesn’t happen in the islands the way it does in other places.  Our seasons are more notable for who is around.  We watch the kolea, humpback whales, or that special species know as homo sapiens touristus.  At different times of the year we enjoy mango, lychee, guava or lilikoi from a neighbor’s bush or tree.  But I don’t have a mango or a guava or a humpback stamp, I have pumpkins and autumn leaves:

Paisley Pumpkin 3x3

  • Paisley Prints and Pocket Silhouettes  stamp sets
  • Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Peach Parfait and Cajun Craze card stock
  • Peach Parfait and Cajun Craze Classic ink pads; Old Oliev and Cajun Craze Stampin’ Write markers
  • Bitty Buttons and Bitty punches; Linen thread

I am a big fan of these 3×3 cards.  They’re just the right size for a quickie note and I like designing in miniature too.  This time of year, you just can’t have enough thank you notes around and I like to stock up a few for good measure.  The Bitty Buttons and punches are the perfect accent at this scale and of course no project is complete without a little of that fabulous Linen Thread.  I always have an extra package of that as a backup – if I ran out I might lose my mojo!

Next Stop on the Holiday Madness Blog Tour

And the spiders just laughed

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Welcome to Day One of the RemARKable Stampers Holiday Madness Blog Tour!  Buckle your seat belts and get ready for a wonderful Sleigh Ride through the Holidays…although as you all know, there’s not a whole lotta sleigh riding’ here in the islands!  I’m thrilled to be a part of this blog hop for the next week, and I hope you’ll have a wonderful time riding along with me.

To get started, we’re going to visit the holiday closest at hand.  Halloween in Hawaii is huge.  When our kids were small, we lived in a neighborhood full of families.  Everyone would set their beach chairs out in the driveway and watch the enormous parade of keiki (children) as they walked, skated, scootered or got strollered through the streets.  The really organized people had their grills going, and there were a few houses with really elaborate and impressive decorations.  I was always too busy getting three small children into costumes and fed something, anything, that wasn’t full of sugar before we headed out – carving the pumpkins was just about my limit.  Fortunately, our yard was full of contented spiders willing to do a little decorating for me.,

You know that frantic, arms-flailing, twisting and turning little dance you do when you accidentally walk through a cobweb?   You’re trying to get all the webby bits out of your hair and at the same time you are just PRAYING that the spider was out at Walmart getting supplies for the Webber grill…that’s what I was thinking about:

Sparkling Big Shot Web

  • Teeny Tiny Wishes and Season of Friendship Stamp sets
  • More Mustard, Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry,  and Very Vanilla card stock
  • Basic Black and Rich Razzleberry Classic ink pads
  • Big Shot and Spider Web Textured Impressions folder
  • Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint; Rich Razzleberry Taffeta Ribbon
  • Stampin’ Sponges; Modern Label Punch and Crop-a-dile
  • Googly Eyes (non-SU)

Actually, my spider was sitting in the tree just watching me do the Tarantella and laughing with his little spidery friend.  This new Textured Impressions folder from the Holiday Mini is so vivid you could use it all by itself for a card and it would work beautifully.  I used it with the raised side down because I liked the distance it created, but it is equally awesome when you use it right side up.  You’ll have to try it yourself to find out, but don’t wait too long because these Textured Impressions folders are very popular and you don’t want to be disappointed just before Halloween!  That would be a mean trick and no treat.

Next Stop on the Holiday Madness Blog Tour

The cutest little flower pot you’ll ever see

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I was in my local hardware store the other day and spotted the cutest little clay pot you have ever seen – all of 1 1/2 inches tall.  It was $2 which almost caused me to pass it up, but I’m glad I was feeling extravagant:

Tiny Bouquet

Don’t you love it?  I’m not a huge punch-art fan, but I love the flowers you can make with punches.  These are made from the 5 petal flower (the pointed one) and the 1 inch and 3/4 inch circles.  The tiny pale ones are made with the Bitty Punches, and the leaves are from the XL Two Step Bird punch.  I had to put int a few butterflies from the Beautiful Wings Embosslit too.  Here’s another view:

Tiny Bouquet

I attached the flowers with E-6000 adhesive because it’s super-goopy, and the butterflies and Bitty Punch flowers are held on with straight pins.   I wish the little pot had been more reasonably priced, because these would be cute gifts.  It really wasn’t fair – the big 4 inch pot sitting next to it was 79 cents!  Ah well, I would have driven myself crazy making all those little flowers.

Make a little note on your calendar to check in all next week.  I’m participating in my first blog hop and it promises to be full of wonderful inspiration.

Butterfly Pansies that make your heart sing

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This isa shameless CASE, but I was so impressed with this card that I couldn’t see any good reason to change it.  Dawn Olchefske is the original artist and has even made a video tutorial for those of us who are visual learners.  I received a CASE of her card as a convention swap and couldn’t wait to try it when I got home.  Here are my results:

Butterfly Pansies

  • Sincere Salutations stamp set
  • Very Vanilla Card stock and Shimmer White card stock
  • Elegant Eggplant Classic Ink pad
  • Elegant Eggplant and Daffodil Delight classic ink refills
  • Basic Black Stampin’ Write marker
  • Big Shot, Top Note Bigz die and Elegant Bouquet Imprssions folder
  • Very Vanilla 5/8″ Satin ribbon
  • Gold brads
  • Large Oval and Butterfly punches

My apologies for the quality of the photo – photos are going to be a little hit and miss for a while.  My poor little point-and-shoot has been dropped on its head a few times too many and it’s getting a little wonky, not to mention I have to wrap a rubber band around it to keep the battery door from opening and dropping the battery on the floor.  A new camera is NOT in the budget right now, so we will make do with what we have.

If you find a color combination you love, be sure and let me know.  I played with quite a few and this was my favorite, but I’m sure there are more out there!  Happy punching.

Give Thanks

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There has been a lot to be grateful for in my life recently.  Gratitude has really been on my mind, so a couple of weeks ago when I was ordering supplies for classes I added on the Give Thanks Decor Elements image.  I wanted to put it somewhere that would be regularly visible, and for me it was clear that would be the kitchen.  As in most homes, our kitchen is the family hub.  We spend the majority of our family time there, and it seemed the best place to put up a reminder to be thankful:

Give Thanks in my kitchen

It’s beautiful, isn’t it?  This is the medium sized image in Chocolate (#117951, $14.95).  It was VERY easy to put up.  I think I spent more time washing the wall than I did working with the Decor Elements!  Start to finish was less than 15 minutes, and that included time for the wall to dry.

Here’s the view from the kitchen island:

Give Thanks view from the island

Every time someone walks into my kitchen, Give Thanks is over their head.  Isn’t that a lovely thought?

Give thanks.

Fuzzy Bats and Spooky Eyes

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My friend Kellie came over to play on Friday and brought a couple of cards to share with me.  I don’t make many Halloween cards so I don’t buy many Halloween stamps, but her cards just about had me putting in an order with my favorite Stampin’ Up! demo (yeah, ha ha, three guesses who that might be!!).

Kellie's Spooky bats

Since I didn’t make this card, I can’t give you all of the details but she did say she used the Wicked Fun Specialty Designer Series papers and the Wicked Cool stamp set.  I REALLY didn’t plan on getting that set!

The Wicked Fun DSP has flocking on it so the bats are fuzzy…I like those fuzzy bats…not that I really like bats or anything, but how can you not love fuzzy bats??  Just tell me that.

Kellie's Spooky Eyes

Don’t you LOVE these eyes?  They’re the wing from the XL Two Step Bird punch!  I like them even better than Googlie Eyes, and I really love googlie eyes.  The spider web is from that dog-gone Wicked Cool stamp set too.  Hmmmph.

Kellie CASE-d these two cards and even brought me the names of the stampers, so if you love these cards, be sure to Google these two talented women and give them a little love too.  The Eyeballs card was inspired by Sandi Maciver and the Fuzzy Bats are courtesy of Deb Currier.

Have a little Halloween fun!

Gratitude: Expressing Appreciation

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Gratitude is a feeling I try to keep at the top of my mind.  I have so much to be grateful for, and I find if I focus on those things I can always see the glass as half full.  It takes so much energy to be grumpy, resentful and negative, but being grateful is life-giving.  I look for the Thanksgiving moment in every situation, no matter how serious it may be.

Gratitude in Paisley

  • Paisley Prints and Define Your Life stamp sets
  • Peach Parfait, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake and Naturals Ivory card stock
  • Peach Parfait, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, River Rock, Always Artichoke and More Mustard Classic ink pads
  • Decorative Label punch
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals and Always Artichoke Seam binding

Have you tried the new 1/2 inch Seam Binding from the Holiday Mini catalog yet?  It is so fun to work with – I’m a seamstress too, and it’s the real deal.  The color is gorgeous but what I really love is that the knot isn’t bulky and I think I might be able to squeak this one past the Fat-Card-Police at the post office.  Now that’s something to be grateful for.

The final touch

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Last week I packed my overnight bag to go visit my friend Cheryl.  OK, not really…I mean the overnight bag part.  I know I whine about this regularly, but she used to live 5 minutes up the hill and she moved to HAIKU.  Now it’s a 50 minute drive, except last Wednesday I think I made it in 45.  It has to be that I’m getting used to the route because I certainly wouldn’t be driving any faster.

WARNING:  You can’t get this Decor Elements design any more.  It’s gone, done, finito.  This post is to help you visualize how easy it is to put a multi-piece Decor Elements on the wall, but don’t get attached to the image!!!

Cheryl hostessed a workshop last spring with the goal of earning the Level III Decor Elements Hostess gift.   She rustled up orders from I-don’t-know-where and made her goal so that she could have this delightful birdcage image to put in her new entry way.  She bought bird houses and hooks with birds on them and books about birds…you get the idea.  With nearly all the moving boxes emptied and her second daughter securely settled in college, it was time to bring out the Decor Elements Applicators:

The bottom of the stand goes on the wall

We measured carefully and even made our own “plumb bob” to get the stand straight.  When we pulled away the paper and saw the base of the stand on the wall we were thrilled and got right to work with the rest of the stand.

Revealing the happy bird

We were about to put the birdcage on the top of the stand when we realized that the bird needed to go on the wall first so that it would look like it was really inside the cage.   She looked a little funny sitting on the wall floating above the stand, but we weren’t finished with her:

The bird cage

The cage had the most elaborate lines and we were very careful to burnish them all thoroughly before we placed it on the wall.  Our diligence made the birdcage go up very easily.

The bird cage is almost done!

As Cheryl peeled back the application sheet we were thrilled to see our careful measurements paid off.  The bird was lined up perfectly in the cage, and the cage was centered on top of the stand.  We thought it looked so cool!!

Ta Da!! The final result

The final result – I wish you could see the rest of the room.  There will be a vase to the left of the bird cage in the corner of the entry, and there’s a gorgeous bench with storage baskets underneath it to the right, and there are birds and birdcages everywhere.  If you look very closely in the bottom of the photo you can see our very sophisticated plumb bob – we tied some ribbon to a punch and let it hang to determine a straight line for placing the stand on the wall.  I’d say we did a good job!